Nehemia 1:5

1:5 Then I said, “Please, O LORD God of heaven, great and awesome God, who keeps his loving covenant ¹  with those who love him and obey ²  his commandments,

Nehemia 4:16

4:16 From that day forward, half of my men were doing the work and half of them were taking up spears, ³  shields, bows, and body armor. Now the officers were behind all the people ⁴  of Judah

Nehemia 5:14

5:14 From the day that I was appointed ⁵  governor ⁶  in the land of Judah, that is, from the twentieth year until the thirty-second year of King Artaxerxes – twelve years in all – neither I nor my relatives ⁷  ate the food allotted to the governor. ⁸ 

Nehemia 5:18

5:18 Every day one ox, six select sheep, and some birds were prepared for me, and every ten days all kinds of wine in abundance. Despite all this I did not require the food allotted to the governor, for the work was demanding on this people.

Nehemia 6:7

6:7 You have also established prophets to announce ⁹  in Jerusalem ¹⁰  on your behalf, ‘We have a king in Judah!’ Now the king is going to hear about these rumors. So come on! Let’s talk about this.” ¹¹ 

Nehemia 7:70

7:70 Some of the family leaders ¹²  contributed to the work. The governor contributed to the treasury 1,000 gold drachmas, ¹³  50 bowls, and 530 priestly garments.

Nehemia 8:4

8:4 Ezra the scribe stood on a towering wooden platform ¹⁴  constructed for this purpose. Standing near him on his right were Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah, and Masseiah. On his left were Pedaiah, Mishael, Malkijah, Hashum, Hashbaddanah, Zechariah, and Meshullam.

Nehemia 9:5-6

9:5 The Levites – Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah – said, “Stand up and bless the LORD your God!”

“May you be blessed, O LORD our God, from age to age. ¹⁵  May your glorious name ¹⁶  be blessed; may it be lifted up above all blessing and praise. 9:6 You alone are the LORD. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, ¹⁷  along with all their multitude of stars, ¹⁸  the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You impart life to them all, and the multitudes of heaven worship you.

Nehemia 10:31

10:31 We will not buy ¹⁹  on the Sabbath or on a holy day from the neighboring peoples who bring their wares and all kinds of grain to sell on the Sabbath day. We will let the fields lie fallow every seventh year, and we will cancel every loan. ²⁰ 

Nehemia 11:4

11:4 some of the descendants of Judah and some of the descendants of Benjamin settled in Jerusalem.)

Of the descendants of Judah:

Athaiah son of Uzziah, the son of Zechariah, the son of Amariah, the son of Shephatiah, the son of Mahalalel, from the descendants of Perez;

Nehemia 11:22

11:22 The overseer of the Levites in Jerusalem was Uzzi son of Bani, the son of Hashabiah, the son of Mattaniah, the son of Mica. He was one of Asaph’s descendants who were the singers responsible for the service of the temple of God.

Nehemia 12:31

12:31 I brought the leaders of Judah up on top of the wall, and I appointed two large choirs to give thanks. One was to proceed ²¹  on the top of the wall southward toward the Dung Gate.

Nehemia 12:47

12:47 So in the days of Zerubbabel and in the days of Nehemiah, all Israel was contributing the portions for the singers and gatekeepers, according to the daily need. ²²  They also set aside ²³  the portion for the Levites, and the Levites set aside the portion for the descendants of Aaron.

[1:5]  ¹ tn Heb “the covenant and loyal love.” The phrase is a hendiadys: the first noun retains its full nominal sense, while the second noun functions adjectivally (“loyal love” = loving). Alternately, the first might function adjectivally and the second noun function as the noun: “covenant and loyal love” = covenant fidelity (see Neh 9:32).

[1:5]  ² tn Heb “keep.” The Hebrew verb שָׁמַר (shamar, “to observe; to keep”) is often used as an idiom that means “to obey” the commandments of God (e.g., Exod 20:6; Deut 5:16; 23:24; 29:8; Judg 2:22; 1 Kgs 2:43; 11:11; Ps 119:8, 17, 34; Jer 35:18; Ezek 17:14; Amos 2:4). See BDB 1036 s.v. 3.c.

[4:16]  ³ tc The MT reads “and spears.” The conjunction should be deleted.

[4:16]  ⁴ tn Heb “all the house.”

[5:14]  ⁵ tc The BHS editors suggest reading צֻוֵּאתִי (tsuvve’ti, “and I was appointed”) rather than the reading of the MT, אֹתִי צִוָּה (tsivvah ’oti, “he appointed me”).

[5:14]  ⁶ tc The translation reads with one medieval Hebrew MS פֶּחָה (pekhah, “governor”) rather than פֶּחָם (pekham, “their governor”) of the MT. One would expect the form with pronominal suffix to have a tav (ת) before the suffix.

[5:14]  ⁷ tn Heb “brothers.”

[5:14]  ⁸ tn Heb “the food of the governor.” Cf. v. 18.

[6:7]  ⁹ tn Heb “call.”

[6:7]  ¹⁰ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[6:7]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Let us consult together.”

[7:70]  ¹² tn Heb “the heads of the fathers.”

[7:70]  ¹³ tn Heb “darics” (also in vv. 71, 72).

[8:4]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “a tower of wood.”

[9:5]  ¹⁵ tc The MT reads here only “from age to age,” without the preceding words “May you be blessed, O LORD our God” which are included in the present translation. But apparently something has dropped out of the text. This phrase occurs elsewhere in the OT as a description of the Lord (see Ps 41:13; 106:48), and it seems best to understand it here in that light. The LXX adds “And Ezra said” at the beginning of v. 6 as a transition: “And Ezra said, ‘You alone are the LORD.” Without this addition (which is not included by most modern English translations) the speakers of vv. 9:5b-10:1 continue to be the Levites of v. 5a.

[9:5]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “the name of your glory.”

[9:6]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “the heavens of the heavens.”

[9:6]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “all their host.”

[10:31]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “take.”

[10:31]  ²⁰ tn Heb “debt of every hand,” an idiom referring to the hand that holds legally binding contractual agreements.

[12:31]  ²¹ tc The translation reads וְהָאַחַת הֹלֶכֶת (vÿha’akhat holekhet, “and one was proceeding”) rather than the MT reading וְתַהֲלֻכֹת (vÿtahalukhot, “and processions”).

[12:47]  ²² tn Heb “a thing of a day in its day.”

[12:47]  ²³ tn Heb “were sanctifying.”